We happened to see SDR online in Augusts and perused their dogs and mission statement and saw the gorgeous Juniper. And by a funny coincidence SDR had an adoption event in Bloomington. We saw little Juniper and her foster Mom Renae and instantly fell in love with her and she with us.
Next was the home visit where Juniper met Eva and her two daddies in a home environment and it went so well we signed the papers of adoption right there and then. We loved how we became guardians and not owners. This was September 1st 2010.
Juniper was a puppy mill down and has serious flash back episodes to that bad time. Her foster parents had helped enormously. Renae keeps in touch and helps us a lot with Juniper.
When we first got Juniper she spend a lot of time in her house which was her security blanket and would run away at the slightest thing. We eventually by being patient helped Juniper slowly come and lay by the couch with us. And slowly she began to trust us to do little things like brush her hair.
We explained to people when we go on walks that she is a rescue dog and needs to trust people and once she gets to know you she will be o.k. Let little Juniper make the first move.
She enjoyed her first Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas and New Year with us.
When she saw snow she was apprehensive about it but now she just is ambivalent although she did try to climb the snow mountains a few times.
We had problems finding someone to groom her as they all seemed so nervous on the phone when we explained about her. Finally foster Mom Renae to the rescue again as she found a nice place called Premier Pet Salon run by Karen who is awesome.
On her first Spa visit in January Juniper was in her element and Karen was so impressed she gave her an A+ rating and Juniper looked so gorgeous. A big shock seeing her shaved but we got used to it. On her 2nd visit Karen said she amazing again.
She had had a relapse a week before as we took her to the Vet for her rabies shot and she got terrified. But a few days later she calmed down - it must have been a serious case of flash back.
She really is a wonderful and loving fur-daughter and she has grown a long way. Sadly 3 weeks after we got Juniper her sister Eva passed away which was really hard to deal with for all of us. But with Juniper's help we got through it.
I have my own photo page on Picassa Web - https://picasaweb.google.com/TheJohansenFamily/JuniperEvaJohansen#
And my own page on Facebook too - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id0001624475457
photo 1 - after first grooming January 2011
photo 2 - adoption day
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